Be a Top-Notch ESL Teacher with this Basic Skill Set
Applying for the position of an ESL teacher is not a piece of cake because there are few skills that you need to possess first in order for you to effectively teach. Here are some of the skills that an ESL teacher must have:
1. Communication Skills When you’re confident in this medium, you automatically adapt to the lack of visual cues that can trip up a less skilled communicator. You control language, tone, and style to make sure your learners hear you loud and clear. Online teachers simply don’t have time to clarify things 100 times. So we need to train ourselves to be clear and targeted communicators.
2. Compassion And Empathy Online students can often find it easier to open up about their learning obstacles in a virtual environment. You may find that your students tell you some surprisingly personal and confidential information. When a student confides in you about a significant life event, that says they trust you. And this is where your ability to be compassionate comes into play. When a student misses a deadline not because they’re disorganized, but maybe because of some personal issues or struggles. Online teaching compels you to tap into your empathy stores, and give students like this a break.
3. Patience Online teachers have effectively signed up for a never-ending lifetime learning course. It’s called How To Be More Patient. This is a tough course for some people. We like to work fast and get things done but all the online teaching is asynchronous. Answers are not instant. Problems are not always fixable immediately. It’s not only students who find this form of time-lapse communication frustrating. Online teachers do, too! So both online students and online teachers are learning to be patient as part of this process. That’s just the way it is. And as your ability to be patient develops, it gets easier to be a little gentler with your learners. Sometimes your online students are so anxious or so overwhelmed, that they genuinely can’t grasp what seems to you like a perfectly simple task. A patient explanation or pertinent example can help them make the breakthrough they need.









